Bigfork golf prodigy leading local youth tour

At just 11 years old, Ryan Keenan of Bigfork is already making a name for himself in Montana's golf community.

Two weeks ago Ryan won the Montana State Junior Championship in Helena in the 10-12 year-old division. He shot a 76-80 and beat out his closest competition by 20 strokes.

"It was very exciting because a lot of kids from different parts of the state were there," Ryan said.

This wasn't his first victory of the summer, either. Ryan participates in the Flathead Valley Junior Tour, which is a series of tournaments held around the Valley for young golfers, and he won all six of the tournaments that were held prior to this week's tournament on Tuesday at Big Mountain Golf Club, the results of which were not yet available. If he wins that one he will have swept the tour going into the championship tournament on Saturday, Aug. 8. Last year Ryan won four of the tour's tournaments.

Before his win in Helena, Ryan met one of his goals for the summer, scoring under 80, which he accomplished while playing on the winning team at the Big Mountain Club Pro Amateur. Ryan was the only kid on a mens team and he played from the blue tees and shot a 79. His best round since then was a 75 at Mission Mountain Country Club in Ronan during a tournament in the junior tour.

"It's exciting," he said of his improvements. "It makes you think about how much better you can get. Thinking about hitting a 72, which is par, would be amazing."

Earlier this summer he placed sixth in the state qualifier for the junior tournament, which was good enough to qualify, but he decided not to play since the tournament was held over Father's Day weekend and his family had other plans.

"I want to be the best," Ryan said. "It's my sport. It's what I love to do."

Ryan has been golfing for as long as he can remember. When he was seven he decided to get serious about it.

"I played in the junior tournament at Eagle Bend and I beat the other kids in my group, but I missed winning the tournament," he said. "I didn't like that feeling and decided that I didn't want to lose anymore. So, I started taking lessons from Mike Wynne, the golf pro at Eagle Bend, and that was the best thing that ever happened to me."

Now Ryan is on the course every day it's open to practice, and is known by other members as someone always looking for a game. He has played 36 holes in one day more than a dozen times this summer and has even hit 45 in a day. To many golfers that would be a tedious day, but not in Ryan's eyes.

"You have to be dedicated to golf to get anywhere with it," he said. "It's a mind-bending, stressful sport. If one thing goes wrong your whole shot can go."

Dedication like this requires Ryan to give up the typical things that most kids his age spend their summers doing, but he doesn't mind because he is passionate about his sport.

"I like the competition of trying to beat your best score and the difficulty of the sport," he said. "What I like also is that you don't have a team. You don't have anyone helping you or disappointing you. It's a self-dependent sport."

Ryan may not have a team, but he does come from a family of golfers. His dad, Bob, plays often with him and takes him to tournaments out of the area throughout the season. His older siblings also play golf including his sister, Sara, who is a standout on the Bigfork High School golf team.

Although he enjoys the healthy competition of his family, Ryan seems to keep himself plenty motivated.

"You can always be better," he said. "You can always shoot a stroke or two better. You can always leave something on the course. It's just improving on what you've done."